Jump (a McRoll in the REAL World story) by Mari, Sammy & Ilna
by sammy1026
Summary: The group visits a local jump park. Part 15 of the 6th Annual REAL World Holiday Marathon.


_Welcome to part 15 of the 6th Annual REAL McRoll Holiday Marathon. There will be a new story every day between now and January 3rd. (Though we retain the right to keep going until January 5th if we're having too much fun.)_

_Hope you enjoy it!_

* * *

**Jump!**

"Ohhh jump!" The second they entered the play area of the indoor trampoline fun park after a quick potty trip Angie saw children in the various activity areas and tried to take off running.

"Wait, wait, baby girl." Catherine held tight to her hand. "You need to take your shoes off first, and you need to at least start off over there." She pointed to the kid zone area as she removed Angie's sneakers and opened a package containing a pair of socks provided by the facility.

"Jump!" The toddler clapped and pointed as the rest of the family was headed in various directions to check out the different areas.

"Okay, let's go." Catherine held out a hand and they walked towards Steve and DJ who were already at the zone dedicated to the 6 and under age group with Mary, Aaron and Joan.

"C'mon Cousin Angie!" Joan called. "I waited for you!"

"Yay!" Angie ran full speed to the edge of the foam pit and looked at Steve. "Go?!"

"Good job," Steve said with a proud grin. "Okay, go!"

Angie flung herself with abandon into the pit, followed by Joan.

"Wheeeeeeee!" The girls rolled over in the foam.

"DJ, 'mon!" Angie made grabby hands.

Steve and Catherine knelt on either side. "Wanna give it a try?" he asked.

DJ bit his bottom lip and looked at the foam with an expression of uncertainty.

"Jump!" Angie encouraged him. "Ah be 'oft and wheeee!" She threw her arms in the air.

DJ locked eyes with his little sister and seemed to gain confidence from her words.

"Looks like fun," Steve said. "How about if we jump together?"

DJ smiled. " 'kay."

"Let's go." Steve took one hand and Catherine the other and all three jumped into the foam.

DJ's face lit up immediately. "That was fun!"

"Come on." Mary grinned at Aaron and they joined the rest of the family in the foam pit.

"Jump mo'." Angie reached for DJ and Joan's hands but giggled and had to let go to 'swim' through the foam.

"How deep is this?" Mary asked.

"I'm not touching bottom," Steve said, "Gotta be at least eight feet." He lifted Angie onto the platform, then hoisted Joan and DJ up as well.

"Gwan-ma. Gwan-pa. Jump!" Angie said excitedly.

"You go ahead, angel," Elizabeth said. "I'm gonna take a lot of pictures so we can show Grandma Ang, Aunt Deb and Nonna when we get home."

The second time, DJ didn't hesitate to follow the girls, once again beaming as Angie yelled words of support, and by the fifth jump, he even went first.

"Great job!" Catherine kissed his cheek when they all climbed out to head to the next play area which was outside of the kids zone and for jumpers of all ages. Joan immediately hopped on the large built in trampoline.

"Angie do!" The enthusiastic toddler bounced in place. She'd had plenty of experience on the smaller trampoline at gymnastics class but had never seen one this big.

"Okay, jump with Mommy 'til you get your sea legs." Catherine offered a hand and led her onto the surface.

"Bou'ce wike Joanie!" Angie squealed in delight as Jacob joined them and offered a hand to DJ.

"Wanna jump with me?" he asked and DJ excitedly nodded and grabbed both his hands as they jumped in a see-saw motion.

"Daddy jump!" Angie giggled as she lost her balance and fell over but sprung back up immediately with a smile.

"Come on, Uncle Steve!" Jacob called and the kids watched with wonder as he moved to the center trampoline and bouncing twice, flipped into a forward somersault and landed on his feet.

"My brother the ninja," Mary teased as she took Catherine's spot by Angie and laughed when her sister in law moved across from Steve and executed several bouncing flips of her own, causing Angie to throw her arms up and squeal, "Ta da!"

* * *

"You gonna give it a try, D-Dawg?" Jadon asked as the two of them watched Casey and Grace step onto opposite ends of a balance beam suspended over a foam pit with large padded lances in their hands.

"I think I'll pass," Danny said.

"That's probably a good idea," Jadon smirked. "At your age."

Casey took a big swing but ended up struggling to keep her balance and stay on the beam after Grace ducked deftly out of the way.

Danny pinned Jadon with a look. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Jadon watched as the girls each landed several blows but were unable to knock the other off the beam. He shrugged. "I've heard balance is one of the first things to go when you get older."

As Grace and Casey lost their balance almost simultaneously and both fell into the foam pit laughing Danny took a deep breath and squared his shoulders. "Put our names on the sign-up sheet and let's do this."

* * *

"You're so cute when you slam dunk," Jess said, crinkling her nose at him and leaning in for a kiss as Cody finished up a game of trampoline basketball.

After a moment, Cody pulled away, sensing they had an audience. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Dylan had come around the corner. Smiling wryly, he looked at his brother and held out a waiting hand. "Well, go ahead …" he said.

"What?" Dylan asked.

"The exaggerated groan," Cody said.

"And the 'ewwwww,' " Jess added, grinning.

Dylan looked down, shuffling a foot on the floor. "Nah, it's okay," he said haltingly.

Cody and Jess exchanged a surprised look. Jess seemed to understand first and patted Cody's leg trying to hide a smile before standing.

"I'm gonna go make sure J isn't gettin' into any trouble," she said. "At least any more than usual." She gave Cody a meaningful look and walked off.

Cody studied his brother for a minute, waiting for him to speak. When Dylan stayed quiet, Cody said, "Anything you want to talk about?"

Dylan's lips twisted as he debated what to say. Finally, he asked, "Jess was your first girlfriend, right?"

"Yeah."

"Did you, like … like anyone else?" he asked. "Before her, I mean?"

Cody thought about it for a moment, then shrugged and said, "Yeah, a couple girls. Jess was different, though. It felt different, right away."

Dylan paused, thinking that over. Cody motioned him over to the bench to sit down.

"You, uh, asking for any particular reason?" Cody asked.

Dylan glanced at him, hesitating. He sighed and finally said, "There's this girl in my chemistry class …"

"Yeah …?" Cody prompted when he didn't continue.

"Marisa. She just moved here from California. Her dad's in the Navy."

Cody nodded, waiting for more.

"She's really cute, and smart, and funny. And she's into robotics. I heard her talking about it."

Cody smiled. "Nice. Have you talked to her?"

"Kind of?" Dylan groaned, rubbing his face. "Not really. I just, I dunno, I get all weird when I try to talk to her. Like I can't remember words or something."

Cody laughed. "I know exactly what you mean."

Dylan looked at him. "Yeah?"

"Yeah. I wasn't exactly slick the first few times I talked to Jess. Or … most girls when I was your age," he admitted.

"What should I do?"

Cody smiled. "I'm gonna tell you what Steve told me." He looked and saw that Dylan was paying even closer attention to his words now. "Be yourself. Hang out together. In a group or the two of your or whatever. Find out what you have in common, and what you don't. See what happens." He put a hand on his brother's shoulder. "Don't overthink it. You're awesome, Dylan. If she's so smart, she'll figure that out, too."

Dylan rubbed the back of his neck and smiled. "Thanks, Cody."

Cody squeezed his shoulder once and let go, returning his smile. "Anytime." His expression grew momentarily serious. "And you remember that talk we had a couple years ago?"

Dylan's eyes widened slightly and Cody knew he understood his meaning. He nodded rapidly. "Yeah."

"This isn't really the place, but we should talk about that again when we get home now that you're fifteen, all right?"

"Okay."

Cody smiled and stood. "Come on, can't let the kids have all the fun."

Dylan grinned. "Right."

As they started around the corner they practically ran into Steve. "Hey, everything all right?" he asked.

Cody looked at Dylan who gave his brother a nod and smiled. "Yeah, everything's great. It's … it's good to have a big brother."

Cody smiled at Steve. "Or the next best thing."

* * *

"Aunt Catherine," Kaitlyn reported breathlessly. "There's an obstacle course!"

"Excellent." Catherine's eyes sparkled. "Are you gonna try it?"

The teenager looked tempted but unsure. "I don't know. It looks pretty hard."

"All the better." Catherine smiled. "That's how we challenge ourselves."

She took Kaitlyn's hand and they made their way to the course.

"How about if I go first and that way you can see how each obstacle works?" Catherine offered.

Kaitlyn nodded eagerly.

Catherine stepped up to the course, built over a foam pit to help prevent injuries, and eyed the first obstacle. A series of inclined steps alternating sides of the course meant to be a test of balance.

"You can do these," she said Kaitlyn who was watching intently. "It's just a different version of running through tires."

She made quick work of the steps and moved on to three hanging trapeze style bars. "Use your hips to help you swing to the next bar," she said as she easily moved on to the next obstacle.

She continued talking Kaitlyn through the rope wall, suspended steps, hanging rings, forest of ropes and the large swinging medicine type ball that led to the final jump to a stationary pad.

"Do you think I can do it?" Kaitlyn asked as Catherine hopped down.

"I know you can," Catherine stated confidently.

By the time Kaitlyn summoned her courage and mounted the first obstacle Grace, Casey, Jenna and Gabby had joined her cheering section. They moved along the course yelling encouragement and the occasional instruction. Kaitlyn's face was a mask of concentration as she moved through the course focusing on each obstacle as they came and trying not to think about what was up next. As she reached the end of the first half, where the course turned and headed back towards the start point, she was gaining confidence. By the time she stepped onto the final obstacle her head was held high and he smile was a mile wide.

"You did it!" Catherine thrust her arms in the air when Kaitlyn reached the final stand. "Congratulations!"

"Great job, honey!" Jenna said.

"That was fun!" Kaitlyn beamed. "It was hard in a few places, but I heard all you guys cheering and it helped me hang on."

"You did great," Casey said. "Now come on, we're gonna beat the boys in trampoline dodgeball."

* * *

"I honestly can't believe I'm doing this," Jenna said as the safety instructor double checked her harness.

"You and be both," Gabby chuckled.

The two women stood back and surveyed the large climbing wall in front of them.

"It's not too late to back out," Gabby suggested.

Jenna looked at the wall. Steve was halfway up the circular tower with an ecstatic Angie strapped to his chest in a modified child carrier. The higher he climbed the wider she smiled.

"I'd feel kind of silly backing out of something a toddler is willing to do."

Gabby snorted. "I would imagine there are already a whole list of things Angie isn't afraid of that I would rather not do."

As Steve reached the top of the tower and pressed the buzzer Angie's "TA-DA" could be heard easily from the ground.

"Let's do this," Jenna said as Steve began his descent.

"Ok," Gabby agreed. "But just because if I take all this gear off without even trying Danny will never let me hear the end of it."

* * *

"Are you guys gonna climb?" Jacob asked as he approached Joseph and Elizabeth who were watching Jenna and Gabby make their way up the rock face.

"We're just here as official photographers," Elizabeth smiled as she snapped another picture on her phone. "Right, Joseph?"

When he didn't reply she turned and saw him looking longingly at the wall.

"You want to climb. Don't you?" she asked.

"So bad," he admitted.

"I'll climb with you," Jacob said eagerly. "Dylan and Cody both beat me to the top but …" his voice trailed off.

Joseph arched an eyebrow. "But you're thinking maybe you have a chance against the old man?"

"No … I didn't mean … well maybe." Jacob grinned.

"Let me get into a harness and we'll find out," Joseph said excitedly.

* * *

"Watch me, daddy!" DJ said as Steve approached the stunt bag area where he'd been playing with Jacob and Catherine.

As soon as he was sure he had his father's attention he ran the length of the trampoline and launched himself into the air, landing on one of the bright green inflatable bags.

"That's great," Steve said. "You built up quite a bit of speed there."

"He gets a really good running start," Jacob said. "He's fast."

DJ beamed at the compliment.

"Where's Angie?" Catherine asked.

"She and Joanie are about to try the gladiator balance beam," Steve said.

Catherine chuckled. "This I have to see."

"Hey, DJ, wanna try after they're done?" Jacob asked.

"Yeah!" DJ responded. "Let's go!"

* * *

"I'm honestly not sure who's having more fun," Catherine said as she and Mary stood holding Joan and Angie and watching the rest of the family play dodgeball.

"I think it helps the balls are soft," Mary laughed. "I remember from high school how much those things hurt."

"Maybe it's time to exorcise a few of those teenage demons," Elizabeth said as she returned from the rest room. "Why don't you two get in there. I'll watch the girls."

Catherine looked at her sister-in-law. "What do you say?"

"I say let's do it," Mary grinned.

As they made their way across the trampoline Catherine said, "How about boys versus girls?"

"You sure you wanna do that?" Steve smirked.

"I am." Catherine smiled mischievously. "And just to make it interesting, losing team has to pull all the sleds back up the hill when we go sled riding later."

Steve kissed her cheek. "You're on. Prepare to pull sleds."

"We'll see." Catherine called all the girls into a huddle. "They've got strength on their side, but we've got quickness. "Let's win this thing."

**THE END**

* * *

_Find all our stories (in chronological order!) on our website: marirealmcroll dot wixsite dot com backslash real-mcroll_

_Or in the McRoll in the REAL World community here on fanfiction dot net Find us on Tumblr: mcrollintherealworld dot tumblr dot com_

_You can join our mailing list by emailing us realmcroll at yahoo dot com with: Add me, please! in the subject line. Or just drop us a line to say hi! We love hearing from our readers._


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